Alice Klein's rhetorical vapidity
Sat, 2008-10-25 08:06
#1
Alice Klein's rhetorical vapidity
Sat, 2008-10-25 08:06
#2
[b]From her (hopefully) last rabble.ca article - [i]Can the majority have any pull?[/i] :[/b]
"Orthodoxy is passй. it's time to get creative."
This is great advice for any aspiring columnist. It's time to get creative with your choice of slogans - especially if you're going to use them as some kind of thesis sentence.
"...Dion is staying on as the interim leader could be just the ticket"
Yes, the "ticket" in this sentence can mean two things. How clever.
"...he other party leaders have the courage to step up to the plate."
What an original baseball analogy. Clever lines like this one come along [i]once every generation.[/i]
"The old thinking is coming so unglued, it's getting ridiculous."
This is a wonderful contrast of the words "glue" and "ridiculous." Without glue, old thinking becomes ridiculous. I like the colorful imagery that comes to mind - and that she seems to be suggesting that "old thinking" was "glue-based."
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Question: Why is this kind of second-rate rhetoric allowed to share valuable pixel-space with some of the talented writing on this website?
Did NOW magazine buy rabble.ca? Was letting Alice Klein post her undergrad-quality crap one of the conditions of the sale?
I'm sorry to be so blunt on my first post here, but I've been reading rabble for the last five years, and only joined Babble to express my concern about this writer's inadequate material.
I can't believe you replaced Heather Mallick with this commercial media woman's worthless texts. Alice Klein needs to go back to whatever she was doing before her limp pen was allowed to contaminate this very worthwhile news site.
[ 25 October 2008: Message edited by: QatzelOk ]
Sat, 2008-10-25 08:43
#3
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[ 25 October 2008: Message edited by: QatzelOk ]
Sat, 2008-10-25 10:02
#4
"Limp pen"? Gawd! This goes in my hall of fame of allegedly progressive macho rhetoric.
I notice this is yet another thread characterized by a woman-hating title. If we are going to have to keep suffering these, I suggest they be pooled in a separate category. ("Little-head babble" would seem an appropriate title.)
[ 25 October 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]
Sat, 2008-10-25 10:22
#5
remind
Martin, I do not see it as a "woman hating" title at all. And I too have serious issues with Klein's participation at rabble myself, amongst the other issues I have with her actions and opinion screed.
Having said that, I agree with you about the "limp pen" metaphor.
Sun, 2021-11-28 22:14
#6
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Sat, 2008-10-25 16:12
#7
Cueball
Oh, now the Orange Guard is vetting style. [img]biggrin.gif" border="0[/img]
Sat, 2008-10-25 16:19
#8
Where do I get the Orange Guard lapel pin?
Sat, 2008-10-25 16:21
#9
Cueball
They have some faded material, once red now Orange, that you can get surplus from China.
Sat, 2008-10-25 16:22
#10
I have no problem with people arguing against what our columnists or writers put on the site. Be as critical as you like. I certainly have been in the past.
But let's keep it civil, shall we? Calling our writers "worthless" really doesn't advance the discussion at all.
Sat, 2008-10-25 16:28
#11
M. Spector
quote:
Originally posted by Michelle:
[b]But let's keep it civil, shall we? Calling our writers "worthless" really doesn't advance the discussion at all.[/b]
It was the texts that were called worthless, not Klein herself, and I agree with that opinion 100%.
Or is it uncivil to say that?
Sat, 2008-10-25 16:36
#12
Cueball
What worthless post.
Sat, 2008-10-25 16:36
#13
Well, okay, you have a point, I guess. I just don't want this to turn into a bunch of personal attacks against one of our writers, and the tone of the first post wasn't promising. rabble.ca writers often DO read babble, after all, and I don't think there's any reason to be personally hurtful towards them. I think we can be better than that.
Doesn't mean you can't be very critical of their writing, of course. The first half of the opening post was fine. But just calling their writing "worthless" and saying that a writer is "contaminating" rabble.ca (like, does that make her bacteria?) is not really making a real argument, you know?
Sat, 2008-10-25 16:39
#14
Cueball
Thanks for backing me up there Michelle.
Sat, 2008-10-25 16:43
#15
Ha! Sorry, we cross-posted. [img]wink.gif" border="0[/img] I was responding to M. Spector.
Sat, 2008-10-25 16:48
#16
Cueball
Oh come on Michelle, don't flip-flop on me. I thought that was your best moderator comment ever!
Sat, 2008-10-25 16:49
#17
Personally, I have no idea how Rabble columnists are chosen. I understand that NOW is mostly driven by pimp advertising, like a number of so-called alternative weeklies in Canadian cities, so I have little confidence to start with in their owners or editorialists. But this is not the issue raised in the OP.
I have posted in Rabble Reactions (under "Woman-hating thread titles") a response to Remind's post.
Sun, 2021-11-28 22:15
#18
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Tue, 2008-10-28 08:58
#19
[b]I have little confidence to start with in their owners or editorialists. But this is not the issue raised in the OP.[/b]
I don't know very much about the ownership structure of rabble. That's why I only insinuated that perhaps she might own the site.
That being said, saying her pen is limp is NOT sexist. In fact, it is pretty sexist for you guys to be defending her as if she is just so fragile and helpless herself. She is a well-connected media owner, not some fragile little wallflower sitting next to a river throwing pedals into the water whispering "he loves me... he loves me not..."
Anyway, for the people who defended Ms. Klein's contribution to rabble.ca, tell me, do you find her writing insightful and well crafted?
[ 28 October 2008: Message edited by: QatzelOk ]
Tue, 2008-10-28 14:50
#20
Cueball
Next time you start throwing some straw around I suggest you try and fashion it into a straw man, or woman.
My opinion is that there is not a whole lot that seperates Klein's liberal views, from that of a number of regular editorialists on this board. I find the whole crew of them to be rather "limp." The only thing that distinguished Klein's "limpidity" from the rest is that she seems to be self-aware enough to realize that she is enough of a liberal to go out and actually recommend that in some cases, some people might vote liberal, as opposed to fronting the idea that the NDP is the "true left."
So, I guess, in the sense that Klein seems to be aware that there is not really a whole lot of difference between the NDP and the Liberals, I guess Klein scores points for some insight. On the other hand her apparent support for either is questionable.
[ 28 October 2008: Message edited by: Cueball ]
Tue, 2008-10-28 15:55
#21
M. Spector
quote:
Originally posted by Cueball:
[b]...I guess Klein scores points for some incite....[/b]
She's certainly managed to insight a lot of critical response from babblers.
Tue, 2008-10-28 16:33
#22
There is one issue the NDP needs to agree on with the LPC, and that's to restart the federal study on putting an end to strategic voting in this last of the few Northern hemispheric bastions of political conservatism.
Sun, 2021-11-28 22:15
#23
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Sun, 2021-11-28 22:15
#24
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